For San Diego Moms and Moms-To-Be
The College Area Business District is proud to announce that the Boulevard BOO! Parade is returning to the College Area Saturday, October 28, 2017 for the 13th Year!
The Boo! Parade is a FREE, family-friendly event which promises to be bigger and spookier than ever this year! More floats, balloons, ghosts, goblins and zombies, music and entertainment! More of what makes the Boulevard BOO! Parade San Diego’s only Halloween Parade!
To see full event information, CLICK HERE!
While the children are going into amazing, super fast crazy excited mode on Halloween parents are usually the exact opposite. Halloween, more than any other holiday is the time to be extra cautious . There are candy inspections, the danger of strangers and believe it or not, costume safety. Can they see well enough out of that mask or makeup, can they breath? One of the biggest dangers of all is walking around the dark streets with cars still going at normal speeds. Children’s critical thinking skills have checked out on Halloween, so it’s up to us parent’s to keep them in check and safe.
Thanks to Alarms.org, we have resources to the best Halloween safety tips. To visit their page, CLICK HERE!
October has been designated as National Fire Prevention Month — Experts state the potential for a 
severe wildfire season fueled by an abundance of dead vegetation from years of drought is real.
Fire prevention has gone beyond not playing with matches. Today, children and adults can educate themselves about the dangers associated not only with fires, but with natural disasters and household hazards as well. Many public service departments set up fairs in local store parking lots or parks during October and hold various safety demonstrations including:
For more information on Wildfire Preparedness – CLICK HERE!
When children hear the word Halloween I’d be willing to bet a good portion of their first thoughts are candy! Halloween is the time for spooky ghosts, jack o lanterns, witches and skeletons, but 
most importantly it’s about the trick or treating.
Children go out into the night once a year with a bucket, or pillow case in hopes of returning home with a glorious bounty of beautiful sugar treats. As the night progresses they are already revved up enough on enough sugar to bring down a bull rhino. Now let’s pile on top a lack of sleep, lack of healthy food and the most dreaded of all – the inevitable sugar crash. God help a parent when the sugar crash hits. This is the Halloween tradition, or at least it has been. There are ways to minimize the sugar intake, without completely taking it away. After all – it is Halloween and it only comes once a year. But that doesn’t mean you can’t keep your little ones balanced out this Halloween steering them as far away from that sugar crash as you can.
John Downs, president and CEO of the National Confectioners Association, said. “It’s a fall tradition that Halloween brings fun and enjoyment to neighborhoods across the country, and we know that chocolate and candy are often the centerpiece of Halloween celebrations. Our members make treats that embody everything that is fun about the holiday, and while there’s no doubt that chocolate and candy play a crucial role in seasonal festivities, we know Americans will enjoy our products with balance in mind as they do throughout the rest of the year.”
To read about this Balance on CISION.com – CLICK HERE!
Technology is something to embrace for sure, but one of the most negative associations we have with increasing technology is kids and smartphones.
When was the last time you saw or even knew of a youngster who didn’t have a smartphone? For that matter, when was the last time you saw a youngster not staring at their phone? Kids as young as 9 or 10 years old have the best and most current smartphones. They become an extension of themselves and are always within reaching distance of their phone. Other than the constant texting of friends, kids love to peruse social media sites such as Facebook or Instagram. Sites like these can be a fun distraction sometimes, but unfortunately for our kids it becomes an essential part of their lives. Every spare second they have is usually spent on social media sited on their phones. Is this something that we as parent’s need to be concerned with? This particular teenage girl would probably say yes.
Nina Langton had no right to be depressed. At least, that’s how she saw it. She had friends, lived in a great neighborhood, and was close with her parents. Like most 16-year-olds she spent much of her free time on her smartphone. Nina says, “Part of what made my depression so difficult was that I didn’t understand why I was feeling so sad.” After Nina’s attempted suicide, her and her therapist got to the root of her depression. Nina states – “I was spending a lot of time stalking models on Instagram, and I worried a lot about how I looked,” Nina would stay up late in her bedroom, looking at social media. Poor sleep along with an eating disorder—eventually caught up with Nina. She finally felt that suicide felt like her only option. “I didn’t totally want to be gone,” she says. “I just wanted help and didn’t know how else to get it.” Nina’s mom, Christine Langton, has a degree in public health and works at a children’s hospital. Despite her professional background, she says she was “completely caught off guard” by her daughter’s suicide attempt. “Nina was funny, athletic, smart, and personable. Christine said “Depression was just not on my radar.”
To read the rest of this article on Time.com – CLICK HERE.
Kaiser Permanente: Health Research